Vogue’s Guide to Jamaica: The Best of Ocho Rios, Negril, Port Antonio, Treasure Beach, and Kingston

For years, travelers to Jamaica largely fell into two categories: couples and honeymooners confined to their all-inclusive resorts or cruise-boat tourists, unloading at Montego Bay or Ocho Rios to spend a few hours browsing a coffee plantation or two. But now intrepid out-of-towners are looking past that artifice to find an island with an impossibly rich culture it is eager to share. Here, your guide to five distinct regions in the land of one love.

OCHO RIOS

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GoldenEye

Photo: Courtesy of Island Outpost

GoldenEye
Cruise 20 minutes east from Ocho Rios, along the island’s verdant north coast, to reach GoldenEye, a 52-acre inn on Oracabessa Bay. Of the 12 villas dotting the blue lagoon, the Fleming Villa, where Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond novels, remains the star: three spacious bedrooms shaded by banyan trees and perched over a white-sand cove, where a hand-dyed batik robe and emerald green claw-foot tub await on the stone deck.Oracabessa Bay, St. Mary; 876.622.9007

Scotch on the Rocks
For a more secluded spot, Scotch on the Rocks is a five-bedroom villa on Sandy Bay, once owned by a Scottish lord (hence the name), now firmly in the hands of the Red Stripe family. In a sky blue colonial-style house, a local chef (one of your private staff of four) will personally devise a week’s worth of meals: lobster thermidor with fried plantains and pepperpot soup with homemade bread, served on a white pillared seaside veranda.
876.469.4828

Miss T’s Kitchen
Head to Miss T’s Kitchen just off Ocho’s main street for home-style Jamaican dishes, served to old-time reggae. Opened in 2009 by Anna-Kay Tomlinson, the restaurant and its three-person team takes locally sourced ingredients and gives them a twist: goat curry in a roti wrap, with plantain strips and Jamaican slaw, for one, or fresh fish cooked five ways. The dedicated vegan hut is a must for its excellent veggie burgers, made from ground vegetables with garlic and freshly picked basil.65 Main Street; 876.795.0099

The Gazebo at GoldenEye
For a breezy night out, the Gazebo at GoldenEye provides the ideal setting, tucked into the branches of a large banyan tree. Take a seat indoors, beneath the white gable roof, or head to the rough-hewn tables and low wooden stools on deck for a dark rum and pineapple juice cocktail, garnished with lime. As the sun sets over Low Cay Beach, those alfresco seats become the best in the house.Oracabessa Bay, St. Mary; 876.622.9007

NyamJam Festival
Next month, the two-day NyamJam Festival will celebrate Jamaica’s food and music scene with a series of events: a four-course feast, hosted by Island Outpost founder Chris Blackwell and chef Mario Batali at GoldenEye’s Fleming Villa, with a ska and reggae concert by Ernest Ranglin; an open-air market packed with booths from local chefs and artisans; and a five-course meal headlined by Batali and the Spotted Pig’s April Bloomfield, with ingredients sourced from Blackwell’s own 2,500-acre farm.

NEGRIL

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Rockhouse

Photo: Courtesy of Rockhouse

Rockhouse
Resting on top of Negril’s famous limestone cliffs, Rockhouse is one of the island’s few true boutique hotels. Though there are 34 timber and thatch-roofed cottages with wraparound terraces set across eight acres of tropical gardens, the premium villas are best for their westward-facing views of the Caribbean sunset. Tour the property’s organic farm, from where the juice bar sources its callaloo, pak choy, and Jamaican beet, then book a day at the bathing pavilion, where body scrubs with local brown sugar, honey, and Blue Mountain coffee are done cliffside.West End Road; 876.957.4373

3 Dives
For a taste of Negril’s local food scene, head to 3 Dives jerk center, a family-owned spot on the West End with canvas-topped tables covered by wooden roofs on stilts. Here the jerk chicken comes with a homemade granny sauce, while the grilled lobster comes doused in garlic butter, with callaloo and rice and peas on the side. There’s a bonfire each night, and live music every Tuesday.876.782.9990

Floyd’s Pelican Bar
Floyd’s Pelican Bar is a driftwood bar on coconut trunk stilts, covered in palm fronds and kitschy decor—flags and license plates from around the world, brought by visitors. Sitting atop a sandbar in Parottee Bay, there is no easy way to reach it. Instead, local fisherman will tow you 20 minutes out for a few dollars. Once there, order a Red Stripe at the bar, or the house cocktail—rum, ginger beer, lime juice, sugar—and take it into the waist-deep water, as stingrays and pelicans float nearby.

The Caves
On cliffs overlooking Negril’s West End lies The Caves, whose 12 cozy A-frame cottages are hewn from natural wood and stone. There’s the Blackwell Rum Bar to visit, of course, but if you come for any reason, let it be the cliff jumping: With numerous platforms chipped into the edges, guests can leap into the crystal-blue waters from a range of heights, tumbling past the volcanic walls embedded with ancient marine fossils. After hitting the ocean, feel free to explore the vivid coral reef, where dwarf tube sponges and tropical fish abound.144 One Love Drive; 876.957.0270

PORT ANTONIO

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Kanopi House

Photo: Douglas Lyle Thompson

Kanopi House
In a grove of banyan trees, some 100 feet tall, Kanopi House is the island’s first true eco-lodge, where magenta ginger lilies flower freely and fabrics are woven from Jamaican banana leaves. No trees were cut here—in fact, full trunks spring through the floorboards of some tree houses. Ask the kitchen to pack a picnic basket with grilled ackee, green bananas, and breadfruit, and take it to Blue Lagoon cove, where parrotfish and blue tangs swim along the nearby coral reef.876.632.3213

Goblin Hill Villas
Nestled on 12 acres of San San Bay, Goblin Hill Villas offers an intimate experience defined by the locals who live there. There’s the Tree Bar, carved into an ancient ficus, where hanging lights dangle down like vines, and a hammock strung by an almond tree overlooks the water. Each villa comes staffed with a housekeeper, who will prepare a week’s worth of local fare: baked plantains, saltfish, and homemade coconut ice cream, for starters.Fairfield Road, San San; 876.993.7443

Mille Fleurs
Dine fine and alfresco at Mille Fleurs at Hotel Mockingbird Hill, a Port Antonio resort overlooking Frenchman’s Cove beach. Modern Caribbean fusion is served here, and what produce is not sourced from the on-site vegetable garden comes from local community plots. The three-course dinner menu changes daily—brochettes of melon with smoked marlin, grilled fillet topped with bananas—and vegans, too, can eat well with dairy-free chocolate sauce and breadfruit flour pancakes.876.993.7134

Woody’s Low Bridge Place
For good, cheap authentic eats, try Woody’s Low Bridge Place, a roadside shack run by Cherry Cousins and Papa Woody, a husband-and-wife team based on the north coast. Beneath a corrugated tin roof, surrounded by signs with Jamaican bon mots, you’ll find the island’s best veggie burgers, made with callaloo served on soft sesame seed buns with tomatoes and green pepper, plus a mug of homemade ginger beer.876.993.7888

The Bar at Jamaica Palace Hotel
The Jamaica Palace Hotel is an old-school, colonial-style fixture with a Deco foyer and lobby. By contrast, the patio bar is a sleek modernist spot with graphic black-and-white marble checkerboard floors and a swimming pool kitschily shaped like the island of Jamaica. Grab a Jamaican rum cocktail, spiked with ginger, and take a seat at one of the black wrought-iron tables, beneath a white pool umbrella, with views of the sea.Williamsfield, A4; 876.957.3838

Musgrave Market
Local flavors reign at Musgrave Market, an open-air flea on West Street between Port Antonio Square and Main Square, where fruits and vegetables grown nearby and spices are for sale by the pinch or pound. You’ll find farmers selling freshly halved pineapples and net bags of mangos in wooden shacks, as well as colorful dresses, shoes, and wooden trinkets, whittled by Port Antonio’s artisans.

Tiamo Spa Villas
Book the ultimate spacation at Tiamo, a nine-acre property recently purchased by Red Rooster restaurateur Andrew Chapman. Though renovations are forthcoming, the current layout is plenty lovely: four villas with ocean views, and a seaside spa, where you can lie on a marble slab table while hot-water jets pour down your back. After a long soak in the steam room, walk back through the hibiscus garden, surrounded by vibrant flowers in full bloom.876.993.7745

TREASURE BEACH

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Floyd’s Pelican Bar

Photo: Courtesy of Pelican Bar

Jakes
Eclecticism is the order of the day at Jakes hotel in Treasure Beach. Each room is individually designed and filled with quirky details—bright blue stone villas dotted with coral mosaic octopuses, stained-glass cutouts, claw-foot bathtubs on stone patios. For the hotel’s best, book Itopia, a 17th-century great house set back in the woods with a mural by Joni Mitchell on one wall, a quiet reflecting pond out back, and silence all around.Calabash Bay; 877.526.2428

Little Ochie
You’ll find only truly traditional Jamaican cuisine at Little Ochie in Alligator Pond, including roasted yams and boiled and pepper shrimp, thrown in an iron skillet and cooked over a pimento-wood fire. Chef Evrol Christian has been cooking from this lumber-and-thatched-roof bungalow since 1989. Start with a mug of warm fish tea—more of a broth, really—followed by a plate of steamed snapper, marinated with onions, hot scotch bonnet peppers, and vinegar.Alligator Pond, Manchester; 876.852.6430

Jack Sprat
Back at Jakes, Jack Sprat is your nighttime spot, where reggae records and old Red Stripe ads line the walls. Order a local brew and head outdoors, where round lanterns hang from the trees and rocksteady music plays. Later, when hunger strikes, order a lobster-and-jerk-sausage-topped pizza or a slice of key lime pie to share.Calabash Bay, Treasure Beach; 877.526.2428

Tour the Black River
A born and bred Treasure Beacher, Captain Dennis has been trawling the seas around his home village for more than 20 years. Book a day tour up the Black River, where crocodiles sleep beneath mangrove trees, followed by a stop at Floyd’s Pelican Bar. Dennis might grab a catch out at sea and, if you’re lucky, grill it over an open fire on a white-sand beach for a late lunch.

KINGSTON

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Strawberry Hill

Photo: Courtesy of Strawberry Hill

Strawberry Hill
High in the Blue Mountains above Kingston, Strawberry Hill’s 12 cottages are built into the basin’s dips and valleys and decorated post-plantation style: four-poster beds with hand-carved wood frames, sheer drapes hung from the canopies. Spend your days by the infinity pool with a rum punch from the wood-paneled bar and striking views of the mountains, followed by New Jamaican cuisine at the hotel’s restaurant: Cassava flatbread, and omelette aux fines herbs with callaloo and thyme à la minute.New Castle Road B1, St. Andrew; 800.232.4972

The Courtleigh
For closer proximity to Kingston’s burgeoning live reggae scene, die-hard reggae fans might opt for the no-frills but centrally located Courtleigh, which offers a pool, a poolside bar, a fruit-heavy morning buffet, and easy access to the new live venues popping up all over the city.85 Knutsford Boulevard; 876.929.9000

Gloria’s
On the outer tip of Port Royal, Gloria’s is known among locals for having some of the island’s best seafood: brown stewed fish, plucked from the waters in sight, served with fried bammy and potato pudding for dessert. Indoors, the setting can get a bit crowded, thanks to the families who come for their weekly suppers, so take your food to go and eat it portside.5 Queen Street; 876.967.8220

Scotchies Jerk Center
Food may take the forefront at Scotchies Jerk Center in Kingston—jerk chicken, of course, cooked over fresh pimento and sweetwood logs, then marinated with hot Scotch bonnet peppers and allspice berries—but this particular spot, with its thatched roof bar and wooden tables under tin tent tops, is a fantastic place to grab a Red Stripe and kick back by the water.2 Chelsea Avenue; 876.906.0602

56 Hope Road
Many travelers come to Jamaica to meet its first son. 56 Hope Road is the 19th-century home where Bob Marley spent his last years, and was transformed into a museum by his wife, Rita. It offers a loving look back at Marley’s life and career: his 1977 Series III Land Rover, completely restored, a room lined with Marley’s gold records, a café that serves Marley coffee, and the shaded spot where he used to write songs.56 Hope Roadinute; 876.630.1588

Tuff GongTuff Gong, the legendary record label founded by the Marley family, offers a 50-minute, behind-the-scenes tour of its current recording space: from a walk through the rehearsal room, where one of Bob’s grand pianos still stands, to the recording space where artists like Shaggy, Popcaan, and Ziggy Marley have booked time. The highlight? A walk through the herbal garden, where Rastafarian plants are grown and ingestion suggestions offered.220 Marcus Drive, Kingston 11; 876.630.1588

Roots of Roots Tour
Dive deep into the roots of Jamaica’s profound music scene with Island Outpost’s Root of Roots Tour. For more than four hours, a personal tour guide will take you through the country’s history, from the traditional music of the Taino Indians to ska to rocksteady to reggae to today’s dancehall scene. To go even further, add a trip to the Alpha Boys’ School, where Kingston’s next generation of musicians are honing their skills.inside@islandoutpost.com